


Not To Be Confused With A Certain Prince Of Fire

by OverthinkingAntagonizing



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: i may begin to shorten chapters bc 3000 words is still tough for me, this might be a long one??
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-16 04:36:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16078568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverthinkingAntagonizing/pseuds/OverthinkingAntagonizing
Summary: there's a new villain on the streets and Todoroki Shouto has an encounter off-duty. Unfortunately, he gets caught in their quirk and finds himself in a very different world.Poor boy.





	1. As Expected, Anyone Associated With Fire Is Still A Dick

A new villain appears on the streets. Most believe he works with the league, but his patterns don't seem to correspond. It was just a regular day for Shouto after school, having gone out of the dorms to get himself a new notebook when he encounters the villain. It's a busy business day, but the villain, an oddly short and thin man, doesn't seem to care. He's laughing in abandon as he runs through the street, leaving holes in the floor as he goes. Some kind of warp quirk?

Shouto pauses for a minute. He could help, but he hasn't passed the licensing exam and he could see professional heroes on the chase. After what happened in the exam, he didn't want to get in the way.  
So he hung back, following the approaching heroes and villain with his eyes as he took a few steps back towards the wall to get out of the way.  
But then the villain looked at him, and suddenly had a look of recognition on his face.

Shouto looked a bit away. That look was unnerving. That's when he saw the professional hero after the odd villain was his father himself.  
Though Shouto had learned to choke up his pride, he still internally stepped back. You don't let go of grudges so fast.  
That's when the ground disappeared beneath him.  
The villain looked smug.

"CHASE ME OR SAVE YOUR KID?? WHAT WILL YOU DO, OH "NEW NUMBER ONE HERO"??"

Endeavour didn't even have time to choose.

Shouto was long gone into the dark abyss of the hole.

__________

Shouto soon woke up to an aching back and a blue sky. His head spun. Had he gotten himself a concussion? He knew what had happened- he came crashing down from the sky like a comet after having fallen in that villain's hole. So it WAS a warp quirk. He found himself somewhere else entirely. Now, if his head would stay still for long enough to raise it, he would find out where he was.

Apparently, he wasn't anywhere.

When he could finally sit up, it was green grass and blue skies as far as he could see. Granted, he was sitting in a little grove behind a hill, so he only saw the horizon on one side of him, so he might just be missing something out. Since he still hadn't felt up to getting up, he took out his phone to use the GPS.  
That's when he found out he wasn't anywhere.  
Even if he found himself in another country, he had an international service pack. Even if his Gps was failing, the internet should have at least worked.  
But no reception.  
No worries, there's bound to be a town somewhere here, he'll just get up the hill and find it, and if it's too far away to see he'll make himself a god damn watchtower of ice. He'll find a town SOMEWHERE.  
Hopefully, they talk Japanese? He can do English too if he has to.

Turns out that he can see a town from up on the hill, and it looks so small he's taken aback.  
Are those houses made of mud?  
Where is he??

__________

"The Earth Kingdom", wherever that is. No mutation quirks to be seen, or even just normal inhuman appearance, and the shopkeep who answered him when he asked about his location, as well as his followup about getting back to Musutafu, or to Japan at all, gave him a suspicious stare while saying he never heard of neither. How could he possibly have not heard of Japan?

The houses WERE made of mud. They were mud huts. Maybe it was a town of social recluses? Intentionally staying out of the world's way?  
That could be the only explanation, couldn't it be?

People were giving him the stinkeye as he wandered the town's single street. He was used to that. Whether because he's Endeavour's son or because of his nasty scar and strange split hair, he would always get looks walking down the street. But these people, who had no apparent idea of Endeavour's existence, had no reason to give him such a grudgeful look.  
Someone whispered "fire nation".

If this is the "earth kingdom", and there is a "fire nation", are there water and air territories as well? Seems to fit the theme. Were people associating him with fire because of his obvious burn scar? Was that... Common, in a nation dedicated to flame?

He didn't want to be fire nation, still.  
Old grudges die hard.

_______

He caught a wagon to the "big city", wherever that is. He needed reception, and the town had none whatsoever.  
The wagon driver was giving him the look as well, but when he returned one of his own he was quick to cave. God, was he tired of people judging him for his origin, even if that origin wasn't even real.

On the way, the wagon driver attempted nervous small talk and asked him about his scar, and whether he got it in a fire nation attack. Shouto quickly felt shame- he assumed they were pegging him as one. Were they instead assuming him to be a victim?  
He answered yes, and that he doesn't want to talk about it. Technically it wasn't a lie. It was a fire that heated the kettle of scalding water that his mom spilt on his face.

The city wasn't much better, and no reception there as well. He had taken to hiding his face with the hoodie he was thankfully wearing, which, though the clothing seemed unusual among the traditional clothing of the locals, was better than having his stop sign of a face out for the crowd to see. He had none of the local money, a fact he made sure of when he watched a few people trade what looked to be golden coins in the city centre, where a good number of stands were selling vegetable goods. One of them was only and exclusively selling cabbages. That couldn't have been a very good business model.

__________

He was still wandering the streets, alternating between checking his phone for signal and asking the locals about his whereabouts and possibility for reaching Musutafu, Japan. Always the same result, in both.

It was getting dark, and he had no money, nor anywhere to spend the night.

Was he going to have to sleep on the street? Had he stooped so low?

He ended up trading his hoodie, marketing it as a special garb made of some mysterious material (they have never heard of synthetic fabric, apparently) for some coins, only after the shopkeep was convinced of the material's uniqueness by feeling the fluffy insides, and bought himself a place for the night at an extremely low price and quality out in the edge of the city. It smelled awful and looked worse, but at least it wasn't the street.

On his walk in the streets, he came into knowledge of the "benders", a group of people capable of manipulating some element. He saw them himself, working a system of mail based on rock-carved carts in stone railings. They seemed like a big deal here, but all he saw was a group of people with unbelievably similar quirks. Then again, no one seemed to recognise what that meant when he pointed that out. If this is the earth kingdom, where there are these "earth benders", and there are a fire and water kingdom (no air, apparently they went extinct?), are there water and fire benders too? Will his quirk recognise him as a fire bender? Does ice count as water in this? If the earth benders are making such good money off their quirks, maybe he can too.

But he'll be back to only using ice.

People always have such nasty looks on their face when they talk about the fire nation.

_______

It's been ten days. He got himself a small job at an ice stand, getting ice for the people of the city who wanted their food to stay fresh. How could they seem so low tech yet have iceboxes? Perhaps they were technologically gifted, only these "benders" changed the way they viewed technology.

His boss was absolutely delighted to have him. He saved him so much money on shipping the ice all the way from the north pole and paying so much to the few water benders (Aha! They do exist!) who were willing to cooperate and bring said ice to the apparent danger zone that was the earth kingdom for so much money.

Shouto had a hunch they were illegal, somehow?

Either way, he presented himself as a lone water bender on the road and in need of cash, who didn't mind to make ice on the spot for the right price. His boss paid him well for it.

He spent his time not "ice bending" learning about this world. He came to the obvious conclusion that this world truly was a different one to the one he knew when he took a look at a map that was being sold in one of the stands in the city centre. The continents weren't even similar.

At least now he knew he was in Ba Sing Se, famous for its walls and its protection from the fire nation. Additionally, he hadn't landed in an uninhabited area when he first arrived as he assumed, but between the farthest wall and an inner one, an area dedicated to farmland like the one the townsfolk he met were tending. If he had landed outside these walls, he might have not been allowed in at all. He was currently at the middle ring of the city, separated from the rich city with another wall, and what he thought to be the city centre was nothing more than a normal market. Having gotten his expectations lowered from the little mud huts settlement in the outer wall ring, he thought this city to be much smaller than it really was.

And still, it offered no way of getting him home.

A way back still seemed so far out of reach. It had been ten days.  
He was getting desperate.

__________

He learned about the Avatar today. His boss said something about the war that was apparently going on outside the walls to a customer, and Shouto inquired farther. Apparently, this Avatar was supposed to be this 100 years old man who was capable of bending all of the elements at once. Shouto knew immediately it was a good decision to only use his ice, at least.

His boss scoffed at the Avatar as a legend, as the client tried to convince him that the Avatar just saved the city from the ruining of the walls. "I saw it myself, the walls crumbled under a gigantic fire nation drill, but the Avatar stopped it!" he claimed. The boss waved the story away as a dream. "The walls could never come down, why would the Avatar even need to save them?" he laughed.

When he asked about the Avatar, quickly assuring his boss that of course, yes, of course, it's just a silly legend, he heard plenty of mythical things. The bridge to the spirit world. The one who had been chosen to keep balance. The one to (one day) defeat the fire lord.

Maybe this 100 years old man of legend could know of a way to bring him home?  
It was his best shot so far.  
If he wasn't, indeed, a legend, that is.  
Shouto had to investigate farther.

__________

He went out to listen to some rumours.  
Apparently, that client wasn't the only one who saw the wall crumble, who saw the avatar be brought into the city.

He first went down to the wall to look at the gap that was in the process of being fixed. That must have been an impressive drill, indeed. How could the fire nation have a drill? How much more advanced was the fire nation than the earth kingdom?

It was a good place to hear rumours too.  
According to eyewitnesses, the avatar was not an old, old man, but a young boy, maybe in his teens.  
Sounds like this was the next incarnation? He wasn't sure what that meant. How often are new Avatars born?

He then went on to hear the avatar had been seen taking the earth-bent train into the higher levels of the city, where all the rich folk lived. Shouto would have to sneak in there to find him and ask him if he knows a way back home. Maybe those spirits he's the bridge to would know.

He then went on to ask about ways into the city centre, the real one. Everyone seemed adamant that there aren't any.

Then again, none of them had gotten hero training.

It was late at night when he sneaked to the inner wall, the one leading to the richest part of Ba Sing Se. He covered his legs with a coat of ice, and every time he stepped or put his hand on the wall, he used a thin ice layer to stick that block of ice to the wall. These stepping stones will be gone and melted by morning, certainly.

He carefully surveyed the top of the wall. There, a guard patrolling. Only one? They seemed very certain of their impenetrability, of the protection the outer walls gave that allowed this one to have such a small workload.

Oh well, it worked in his favour.

He waited for the guard to pass then sneaked across the wall straight to the other side. Under the light of the very thin moon, the darkness came close to seeming solid, but it wasn't quite there.  
He couldn't risk a flame.

He slid his way past the wall quickly, creating a safe slope with his right foot and melting it behind him with his hand. He couldn't risk such a large construct of ice being found the next day unmelted either.

There. He's on the other side, safely. Undetected.

Now to find somewhere to sleep, and the Avatar.

He ended up sleeping on the street that night. Ironic, seeing as he hadn't had to on the poor part of town.  
Still, he couldn't risk a fire. Such a posh and high brow place couldn't possibly be welcoming of the homeless.

He found himself a hidden corner between a house and the wall and tried to sleep, missing his hoodie.  
He absolutely couldn't.

Thankfully, sunrise came before long, so he spent the night wandering. Some streets were well lit and had late-night pubs for the rich and careless, so he managed to get a meal with the money he saved working for the ice man.

A meal, and some more rumours. Rumours everywhere.  
Everyone was talking about the Avatar, mostly. Where the house they gave him was, who was he with, but never what he did. Did no one know about how he saved their wall? They seemed to think he was here for a social visit.

Either way, his abundance of curiosity about him didn't seem all that out of place, and he had gotten far less looks here than he did back at the mud hut town. His evening (late night) could have even been described as enjoyable.

The next day he started his search for the Avatar, but it seemed as though no one was allowed to visit. What he definitely recognized as undercover cops (soldiers?) were aiming people who went around asking away by misdirecting them, and even actual soldiers seemed to be more plentiful the closer he came, until one of them, correctly identifying his intentions, informed him the Avatar is not taking guests. Shouto tried to insist it was important, but alas, the guard was physically blocking him from passing, and he was not about to blow his cover or attack an innocent man doing his job.

He assumed that, being such a large celebrity, eventually the Avatar would make a public appearance.  
He was wrong.  
It had been days, and nothing was heard from the Avatar except more rumours. He was running short on money despite having rented the cheapest place he could find and eating only one meal a day. He went back to the middle ring and his job, bitter and angry.  
Soon enough, the city fell.

He recognized the fire nation army as soon as they stepped into the city. It wasn't hard. They had adorned themselves with fire all over.  
And they wore the same colours as his father.

They have forbidden any exit from the city, but no one would stop him. Though he wanted to run after the Avatar as soon as he realised he was not captured by the fire nation army, he was a hero still.  
He remained in the city a few more days, collecting benders, fighters and the small children of parents who were trying their best not to cry as they sent their offsprings to safety.  
He then led an escape, freezing their way out of the city. Training with his father worked wonders. He knew well how to deal with those who would brandish fire against him.  
He led a few more escapes from different parts of the city after that. He became known as a Protector of Ice. People searched for him far and wide across the city to get their children to safety.

But that couldn't continue.  
Someone ratted him out.  
As soon as the fire nation knew who they were looking for, he could not stay. Every night until his escape he would stay hidden in the house of a different family whose children he saved, and go unnoticed by the army as they dug up every rock in the city to find him.

But he had to go.

He bid the city goodbye soon enough, leaving behind his word that, when he will find him, he will join the Avatar in his fight against the fire nation, for as long as he remains in this world.  
Most interpreted that to mean until the end of his life.  
No one knew better.

He jumped the outer wall 25 days after he arrived at this strange world of elements and war, his eyes, those he was told not too long ago yet a world away were as cold as his father's, set on a new goal, and burning with new determination.

He will find the Avatar, however long it takes.


	2. An Agitating, Endless Chase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's lost himself in two personas, his goal lost as fast as it was found, then found again as fast as it was lost.  
> Life is turbulent like that.

It's been a month more.  
Shouto had gotten used to the road by now, and to the unstable hops of the ostrich-like riding bird. He never thought he'd become a wandering soul. Not with the future of heroism that he had carefully constructed himself back home. But what else could he be?

The Avatar was dead.

The news got to him not late after he left Ba Sing Se. The Rumours were everywhere, the fire nation pronounced the Avatar Dead For Good. Weren't they supposed to reincarnate?  
Fire Prince Zuko was coming home as well, they said.  
It hit him that he should hide his face more carefully when he heard said prince had a scar awfully like his.  
He can't allow himself to be confused with the Prince of Fire himself.

God, that's such a dramatic and extravagant title.

He had taken to buying women's makeup whenever he found himself in a city big enough to sell any. He covered his scar with it in hiding. It didn't cover his hair, but at least it didn't mark him as a prince of the nation of destruction.

He would often laugh at the fact he had only just gotten used to using his fire, and suddenly being associated with flame was a threat to his life.

When life gives you lemons, you have to laugh at the sad things. There's not much else to laugh at.

He made sure to keep his word to the fallen Ba Sing Se. He would organize small revolutions wherever he went. Wherever he found the fire nation on earth kingdom grounds.

Though it hid his scar, his makeup was far whiter than his skin. Was it fashion, to whiten oneself until you looked like vampires? Seeing as his hair was already half white, and he had gotten the rumoured nickname as a Protector of Ice already, he had taken to playing along. He used the makeup as a small, makeshift version of the ice he'd cover his whole left side in when he still refused to use his fire. He'd intentionally paint exactly half his face white under his red hair, a look that, from a bit afar, gave him a ghostly appearance. He didn't know when it happened, but somewhere along the lines his nickname turned from a protector to a spirit, but he was not against the change.

One day, when a new Avatar is born, they would be a bridge to the spirit world as well. If they were so, being a spirit would give him a higher chance of finding the Avatar. It was only logical, and it allowed his social interactions to be far briefer than if he was merely human.

When a Spirit of Ice, risen from its slumber to fight against the forces of flame taking over the planet, speaks to you, you listen.

And no army in its right mind would be intentionally chasing a ghost.

When people began offering him gifts of food, money, clothes, as offerings, he was hardly in the state to say no.  
Being on the run with your only occupation being the revolution, you hardly make enough money to feed yourself.  
Even so, he couldn't just take their gifts for nothing. One late night, sitting in an igloo of ice and trying to reconstruct his ghostly façade, he decided to demand some rules to the gifts others would give him.  
If he was going to live off this mask he had created, the least he could do was to limit the price for it.

The next time he helped get the fire nation away from a small town he chose his words carefully.  
"Even ghosts may be but weary travellers. A bit of food is all this one wishes to take. I've no need for more, but something that would last through the long, eternal winter in my wake."  
Ugh. Even if it's necessary, being this dramatic is hardly in his nature.  
He'd be lying if he didn't enjoy it just a bit.  
From then on his words spread with the rumours of him. Where he went, the offerings became foods that last a long while, and not a bit else. He'd refused to take anything if someone offered more than he had asked for.

He was still dumbfounded at how easily he became a legend. A half-faced bringer of ice, rather than a teenage kid in street clothes and odd hair.  
His clothes must have helped though, right?  
Though obviously simple they were so different from the clothes of everyone else, they may have aided in giving him an alien look.

It's been months. He spent them as a spirit, helping the conquered and abused fight off the fire nation. He was only hoping to live long enough to see the birth of the next Avatar, his own home already seeming a lifetime away.

Being a spirit was a lonely existence.  
He'd spend his nights in an igloo of ice, thinking of a world he was starting to get resigned to never see again.

__________

Prince Zuko, now once again in his rightful place, had most definitely heard of the Spirit of Ice rising to fight the fire nation after the Avatar's death.  
They said he was a man with half a face of a human, half a face of a corpse who died of frost, so pale it was blue and with an eye the colour of foggy ice reflecting the sky.

They say he fought with his dead half covered in ice as thick as a glacier as a second skin, and that he could freeze an entire fire nation camp with a stomp of his foot, no water in sight. As if the ice just appeared as he went.

They said he could be found on the roads in an igloo, like those found in the poles, and that everywhere his igloo was, so was a travelling, eternal winter.

These rumours were ridiculous, and must have been exaggerated, but the results spoke for themselves. Tens, hundreds of fire nation camps fell, covered with ice. The soldiers, whose lives were never taken, scared away from the village, town or city that fell under the protection of this spirit, refusing to attempt to retake it even long after the ghost left.

But as troubling this creature was, Zuko had other worries. Ones that concerned less the fate of the fire nation, and more his own.  
Could the Avatar have lived?  
The girl's, Katara's, special spirit water.  
Could it cure death?

He'd been welcomed by his people, and by his father, with metaphorical open arms.  
Funny, the fire nation had a hard time with warm welcomes.  
But Azula lied to their father. Gave him credit for her actions, and for what? She claims to have done it because of his worries. To have done it as a gesture of good will.  
But he knows better, far better. She never had a single ounce of good will to gesture at.  
There's always a plan behind it.  
She practically admitted that when he confronted her.  
If the Avatar WAS alive, her action would mean that the discovery of such a fact would destroy his name in the eyes of his father for good.  
She was covering her own ass, like always.

He went to visit his uncle.  
Iroh refused to talk.  
He was most likely furious with him. So badly betrayed.  
Zuko didn't blame him.  
After the things he said during that visit...  
He wouldn't expect forgiveness either.

Today he tried again. This time he brought gifts.  
He explained.  
He begged.  
He lost his temper.  
He insulted his uncle once more.

He was not a very good nephew, was he?

So he took care of the problem himself.  
He was rich again, he was fire prince Zuko.  
He hired a specialized assassin. One of the best he could find, and one of those that could keep their mouth shut. It was paramount.  
And he sent him after the Avatar.  
Only when the Avatar is dead will he be able to sleep straight at night once more.

__________

 

He was tired of being a wandering spirit. Though it brought hope where he went, this reputation made even the loner wish for human contact.  
Ever since he built this persona people would give him such a look filled with awe and fear, he started to doubt his humanity himself.  
How are spirits born into this world?  
He might as well become one.

So he got himself a hat.

It was a simple solution, and wasn't complete, but with the hat's hiding his hair and casting shade on his face, he seemed almost normal.  
He used the makeup in full while his hat was on, and the shade the hat provided made the paleness of his face a little less obvious. He was thankful for the change.

He kept the name of the spirit, alternating between arriving at a town as a ghost or as a man dependent on whether or not it was in need of his services as a rebellious spirit. This option, to present himself as a man among many others was welcome indeed.

His clothes had long worn out, now looking like nothing more than the same loose pieces of fabric held by belts of rope every citizen of the earth kingdom wore.

He had felt himself losing his way. Every night he would stay awake for hours upon end, either stoking the fire of both rebellion and determination in himself to reach home or putting it out with tears of regret and disappointment and anguish. Soon enough he stopped constructing himself the igloo to sleep in. What's the point, when he slept so little?  
He learned to sleep in bursts, on his bird.

Day and night and towns and camps and wars and rescues blended together.  
Half the time he would come up to a town and hear the Spirit of Ice had done yet again something miraculous he never remembered and would wonder if those are merely rumours going wild or if he has gone mad, splitting himself in two like his heritage always threatened he would.  
He was always half and half, cold and hot, calm and furious. Why not alive and dead?

Why not man and ghost?

 

_________

 

He was approached in his igloo. That's a first.

It had been weeks since he last built it, but in an attempt to keep himself together, he forced himself into a more usual schedule of eat and sleep.

And someone knocked on the thick icy wall.

He, of course, knew the igloo was associated with his spirit half. It was part of his image.  
He wiped the "human" half of his face from makeup and stored away the hat before melting away the door.

It was a simple man, though a serious one. He expressed humble praise as one would when faced with a spirit, and the Spirit of Ice waved it away, and retreated to sit in the middle of the igloo with his hands grasped before him and legs crossed, asking the man in a short and concise manner why is he there, and what is the visit for.

The man introduced himself, though in his current state of mind the spirit was certain it would not remember the name. He claimed to have come in the name of revolution, and having heard the spirit's exploits, he came to offer it a place in a brave invasion planned on the day of the solar eclipse, the day where all fire benders would be powerless.  
The spirit considered the words for a long minute in silence, then breathed out a puff of frozen breath. The air got colder.  
"I'll help bring the fire nation down. Where shall I meet you?"  
The man explained that the main army on its way to the fire nation was already in movement, but they were planning to meet up with all the yet ungathered allies on the day of the eclipse. He gave a location, and the spirit thanked him. He turned to leave.

Then he paused and turned back.  
"I'm certain you know that he's alive. After all, he is the bridge to your world... But know this too: the Avatar will be with us on the day of the invasion. Together we will take down the fire nation once and for all."

Shouto could not believe his ears.  
His last chance, his only hope.  
Back from the dead.  
After the man left, all he could do is cry.

_________

It's the day. Or, he hoped it's the day.  
He begged the sky that he's there on time.

The island did seem uninhabited when he arrived on a slope of ice. All he needed to do was find the hidden harbour the man spoke of, and he will meet the invading force.  
He will meet the Avatar.

It took him half an hour to find the right place. He saw a group of kids on the edge of a cliff. One of them earthbended a rocky ledge and then used it to lower the rest down.  
Bingo.

He fixed his facepaint a little. He had to make the right impression  
Then he slid down to the water and began walking across it, leaving an icy path on the waves. With a touch of his other foot, he raised himself a little dramatic steam from the water.  
Weeks and months on end of acting as a spirit teach you the importance of being theatrical, even to as blunt and as forward of a person as he was.

He arrived after the rest of the force with a confident step.  
Everyone was staring, naturally.  
He saw people peel away from happy introductions and reunions to look at the spirit who joined the rebellion.  
Which of these is the Avatar?  
Wouldn't the Avatar recognise him for the fake that he is?  
He covered his left half with ice. That had always created a less human impression.

The Avatar would learn of his true story soon enough. He just has to hold on until the invasion is over.  
He doesn't want to be revealed in front of so many people.

The Avatar came forth to greet him. He was indeed but a child, younger than he was, perhaps 12 at most.  
The Avatar bowed to him with respect, and he returned the gesture.  
Aang had thanked him for arriving, and for offering his help. The spirit once again waved away all thanks, all he wanted was to help bring the fire nation down. And one thing more. He had waited for the Avatar to officially return to the world of the living for so long. He demanded an audience with him alone.

The Avatar hesitated, looking back at his many allies. you do not say no to a spirit without consequence. He explained that though he is surrounded by many allies, there are three who are and always will be his team of friends, those he trusted the most.  
He asked if the spirit could settle for an audience with those four alone.

The spirit pondered the question. If he was going to get the Avatar's help, he might spend some time by his side. That would mean the Avatar's friends would inevitably find out the truth. He nodded and gestured up the wall. "Up there. And with none else."

Atop the wall, he created his signature igloo around them. The four sat down before him, the Avatar in the centre, looking up to his standing form in question.

For the first time in months, Todoroki Shouto wiped the paint on the left side of his face.  
"I need your help."


	3. They Don't Believe That I Exist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shouto joins the group but feels like he doesn't belong.  
> Then someone even worse than him tries to join.

For a moment there was absolute silence as the group stared him down in various degrees of bewilderment.  
Shouto was almost going to start talking again when Sokka spoke up.  
"Wait wait wait wait wait, you mean to tell me that the "Spirit of Ice" is a weird Zuko ripoff?! Are you Zuko in disguise?!"  
"I'm not-"  
Sokka was on his feet, with an expression of disapproval Shouto was convinced was only possible in cartoons, in the blink of an eye.  
"What kind of spirit even has scars?! Aren't they some sort of ghosts? Aang, do ghosts have skin?"  
"I'm saying I'm not-"  
"I mean, I see the spirits of past avatars all the time, Sokka. Maybe he got the scar when he was alive?"  
"Wait, but-"  
"And he said he's been searching for us! Are we just cursed to be chased by weird eye-scarred people?"  
"I SAID I'M NOT A SPIRIT!"  
Everyone fell silent, eyes slowly turning back to Shouto, who stomped his left feet, sending a splash of hot water where ice just was.  
"What do you mean you're not a spirit?" Asked Aang, looking at him quizzically.  
Shouto released his breath and froze the little hot pond again, sitting down. "I'm not a spirit. I'm just lost."  
"You look like a spirit," claimed Sokka, sitting back down as well, "Your hair is all spirit-y and weird."  
"Well, I'm not," He insisted, passing a hand through said hair in irritation, "But I came to the Avatar because he's the gate to them all the same. You are, right?"  
"Ah, well yeah, I am. Why? Do you need to talk to any?"  
Sokka leaned close to Aang, eyes still trained suspiciously on Shouto, and raised his hand to his mouth as he whispered, "Because he wants to go back there because _he's a spirit_."  
"I'm _not_  a spirit." He gave Sokka a glare and turned to look at Aang. "I just thought, if you can reach the spirit world, maybe you can reach others? I need to go back home."

The group traded confused looks.  
Toph spoke up, eyebrows furrowed. "I thought you just said you're not a spirit. Now you're calling the spirit world home?"  
"No, I- Ugh. I meant other worlds. That aren't spirit-based. Like, other worlds with people on them."  
"Maybe you should explain from the beginning..." Suggested Katara.  
"Right." He awkwardly cleared his throat. "So... I'm not from around here."

________

"So EVERYONE is a bender where you're from?" questioned Sokka.  
"Not exactly. There are quirks that aren't like bending. Some have mutations that make them stronger or give them wings, I know a girl who's invisible... It's just powers."  
"But _everyone_  has them."  
"Around 80%, yeah."  
"And you came to us to help you get home?" Asked Aang.  
"Yes."  
"After one of those people got you here." Continued Toph.  
"Exactly."  
"I don't know if I can help you..." Admitted Aang, rubbing the back of his head, avoiding Shouto's eyes. "I'm sorry... But I don't know how to get to other worlds. Besides the spirit world that is."  
It was what Shouto feared he'll say the most. He lowered his head, staring at the floor.  
"I understand. And there are no spirits whose help you could ask...?"  
"Entering the spirit world isn't so easy, and even if I did, I have no idea what spirit to ask."  
"I see..."  
Katara played with her hair thoughtfully. "Maybe... Maybe you can stick with us after the invasion. If we win, we'll have plenty of time to help you find a way back."  
Aang immediately straightened up, his smile spreading back on his face. "Yeah! We'll find a way to help you, be sure of it!"  
Shouto considered the offer for a moment. "Yeah... Yes. That is the best option. After the invasion, I'll stay with you and search for a way home."  
"Great! So now that that's settled, can we get back to the invasion? I'm freezing in here." Asked Toph, already carefully getting on her feet, truly blind when standing on ice.  
"Right, right." Shouto stood up and touched the door melting it down. He continued to spread heat until the whole igloo dissolved.  
"Are you just a water bender then?" Asked Katara, watching him melt the ice. "Because, some of the stories about you as a spirit sound mostly impossible, but if you're not a spirit..."  
"Oh, no. I'm not a water bender. I can only make ice. And, well. Fire." He turned to look at them again with a shrug, awaiting a response.

"You can make ice _and_  fire?!" Shouted Sokka gesturing at him wildly.  
"I told you, I'm not from this world. It's much more normal where I'm from!"  
"You're practically half an avatar! A halfatar!"  
"Don't be silly, I'm not-"  
"I can't believe something like that is even possible! Why haven't we heard about it in all your ghost stories?!" Aang joined in, bewildered and amazed.  
"Because I haven't used it! I didn't want people to think _I'm_  the Avatar!"  
"You were already pretending to be a spirit, people would believe anything about spirits." Mentioned Toph, rubbing her feet in the sand.  
"Well, I didn't want to be linked to the fire nation either! After what they did in Ba Sing Se, and what I heard about their prince, I wanted nothing to do with them!"  
"Talking about Zuko, how come your scars are so alike?" Added Sokka with a suspicious glare.  
"I don't know! I never met him, how should I know!"  
"Guys, stop arguing." Demanded Katara, crossing her arms. "We have an invasion to go on and we wasted enough time already. We can't afford to miss the eclipse because of this!"  
"Katara is right," said Aang, calming down, "We should be moving already. C'mon Sokka. Give your preparation speech on the boats. We have to move."  
"On the boats? But then only a third of the crew will hear it!"  
"We can move you between boats to give it again. C'mon. We're wasting time."  
Toph made the rock elevator, and the four old friends hopped on.  
"Can I just have a request?" Asked Shouto, hesitating.  
"Yeah?" Asked Aang, looking back up at their new member of the group.  
"Don't tell anyone about my fire. Yet. Please?"  
The group exchanged looks.  
"Yeah. Yeah, sure." Answered Aang with a friendly smile.

________

The invasion didn't go as expected.  
they got all the way to the royal palace, they were almost there.  
But the royal family wasn't.  
Most of the adults got captured. The kids, led by Aang, barely escaped.  
Shouto felt useless.  
As they were flying away on Appa, Shouto was holding his head in his hands, _knowing_  that for all his power, there was nothing he could do, because they were outsmarted, and no power can bring back what they lost.

"Mister ice spirit?" Turned to him one of the kids. a small one. The Duke? "Are you ok? I think you have a fever."

Right.

He was sitting at his left-hand side.

Shouto hadn't noticed, but in his whirlpool of emotions, he was probably burning up.

His skin cooled again as he gave the kid a miserable look.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

The rest of the flight was silent.

No one had noticed the hot air balloon chasing them, occupied with one prince of the fire nation.

___________

Shouto didn't mind the walk to the air temple. He didn't want to be extra weight, not on the team or on the strange flying bison.

He didn't want to be en extra weight when they reached the temple, either.  
But they asked him to stay behind for the future plan.

"If you ask me, the new plan... Is the old plan! You master the four elements and fight the fire lord before the comet comes!"  
Shouto clocked out. This was not his business. If they needed his help, he'll do whatever it takes, but he had little input for the plan itself. His strategies always involved brute, excessive strength, which he had a hunch wouldn't be useful.

"The spirit could teach you!"

Shouto's head shot up. Is Sokka talking about him?  
They were all looking at him.  
"What were you talking about?"  
"Aang needs a fire bending teacher. Maybe you could teach him?" Explained Katara with a hopeful smile.  
Shouto debated himself for a moment, staring at his left hand. "No. I can't. I've seen fire benders. I can't do what they do. It's just... different."  
"Come to think of it, you said you use fire, but we've never seen you do it." Mentioned Sokka.  
Shouto sighed. "I don't tend to use it in my day to day life. I'm not... Used to it."  
"Well, can you show us a little then? Maybe there's still something Aang can learn from you." Suggested Katara.

Shouto stood up, walking to the middle of the circle of broken stones they found to sit on.

He lit himself on fire.

Or, half of himself.

Man, he was out of practice.

The others gave a short gasp.

"You haven't even moved!" Called Aang, getting up for a closer look.  
"How aren't you burning? It's right on your skin!" Added Katara with a slight panic.  
"I told you it's not like bending. I saw how you all have to move to produce your element. I can just... ignite."  
"And it's just your left half?" Asked Sokka, examining him.  
"Yes. My right half is only ice."  
"Like your hair!"  
"Exactly."  
"Well, that doesn't solve twinkle toes' problem." Said Toph from atop her stone pillar.  
"Right." Aang deflated again, sitting back down.  
"we can find Jeong Jeong!" Said Katara, to which she got a scoff from Aang.  
"Yeah right. Like we'll ever run into Jeong Jeong again."  
"Who-" started Toph, but then gave up. "-Never mind, if it's important I'll find out."

Soon after that Aang fled to explore the temple, leaving the rest behind. Shouto sighed. "I wish I could help."  
"Don't worry about it. It's not your fault you're not really a fire bender." Answered Katara.

The Avatar's friends left, chasing him with the flying bison, trying to convince him to talk to them when Prince Zuko arrived.

____________

  
Shouto was relieved he'd been hiding his scar so far. Being mistaken for this man would've been a bad choice.

"Why would he try to fool us like that?"

The group have been talking about this encounter ever since they came back with Aang. They told Shouto quickly what happened- That he tried to kill them so many times they lost count. Chased them all over the world. Sent an assassin after them. Then he just shows up and promises he's good now?

Shouto wouldn't have believed him either.

The time when he almost tricked Katara sounded the worst. He sounded like a villain that back home, they'd be fighting to arrest. But he's a prince here. A prince of the fire nation. You don't arrest a prince.

He again felt grateful for his forethought to hide his scar.

Then again, Toph had a point. He asked how she knew he was sincere and she explained she can feel the heartbeat of others. If he was lying, his heart would have raced. She was convinced he was sincere. When she talked about the prince's messed up family, Shouto could not only understand her reasoning, but could hear she had experience with it herself. What was her home life like, as a blind earth bender? He'd have to ask her. But not now.

She accused them of blindness, ignoring the only valid fire bending teacher they could possibly find, and stomped off.

He turned to look at the other three.

"What are you looking at?!"  
Katara was on edge.  
"I was just thinking. I can't teach Aang fire bending. Toph has a point."  
"We JUST settled this! Aang will NOT be taught by Zuko!"  
"I've learned from people I've despised before," he answered, getting up, "It's not pleasant, but I'm better for it. You should consider."

He left to organize a bed. He didn't feel like getting yelled at by Katara as well.

_______

Shouto was a light sleeper ever since he arrived in this world. Not that back home was any better. He had to rebuild his entire room because the floor wasn't made of a wood of his liking.

Needless to say, when his name came up in the quiet night air, he woke up and strained his ears.

"First we meet a scarred ghost and now Zuko comes out of nowhere. I'm just saying, is it really a coincidence?"  
"Sokka, what could Shouto have to do with the fire nation?! We've heard of what he'd done all around the earth kingdom! It's obvious he's against them!"  
"Well, he did advocate for Zuko today. I'm getting suspicious too."  
"Really Katara? What if he just had a hard life, and doesn't know Zuko well enough?"  
"He didn't have a life, he's a spirit!"  
"Aang, that's the thing. We don't know anything about him. From not existing, suddenly he becomes a local legend, one that just so happens to be exactly the kind that would draw the Avatar's attention? Then he meets us and has this ridiculous story about another world..."  
"He helped us in the invasion!"  
"How do we know he's not the one who warned the fire lord?!"

At this Aang fell silent for a moment.

"Then if he's not who he says he is, who is he?"  
"I'm telling you! He's a malicious spirit who works for the fire nation!"  
"I still don't think he's a spirit. Isn't he too... Physical?"  
"Can you think of anything else that can both fire bend and water bend?"

They were all quiet again.

"Then what do we do about him?"  
"We can't let him know we know yet. We need to figure out what he really wants first. If he's really a spirit with the fire nation, we'll figure it out soon enough."  
"I don't know... I can believe he's a spirit with the weird bending, but I'm still not sure about him being fire nation. With the way he can do both fire and ice, but only uses ice... He feels unbalanced. Maybe he's here to help us balance the world back?"  
"Well, if that's his purpose then we'll find that out too."  
"What's with the ludicrous story though?"  
"Maybe he's just confused... Spirits tend to be detached from the world. Maybe he just thinks of the spirit world weirdly? He said he knew an invisible girl and stuff, right? And that those... "Quirks"? Can give people wings, right? Maybe he just thinks the spirit world is the normal one?"  
"He'd be one confused spirit if he does..."

Shouto kept listening for a little while. They seem to have disbanded and went back to sleep.

They didn't believe he was real. He _was_  real, wasn't he?  
The impossible fogginess that covered his mind during his months of travel came back to him. Those times he wasn't sure if the rumours were going wild or if he was going insane.

No. He exists. His dad did, and UA did, and Midoriya's stubbornness and his failure in the exam and that boy who could control wind who _wasn't_ Aang, the other one, Inasa, they all existed.

What has he become that he actually doubts something like that?

He has to convince them.

He has to convince himself.

**Author's Note:**

> please comment if you have anything to say! I re-watched some of both shows to get canon right, but if I fluked, I'm sorry and please correct me! Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
